Friday, 28 November 2008

If news in the real world - recession, Baby P's torture, Islamic nutters' mayhem in Mubai - is making you glum, here's a Santa story to cheer you up. Today, Paul McCarthy's 6-metre-tall, black-patinated bronze, garden-gnome-style Santa Claus (2001) brandishing a dildo was finally installed at the Eendrachtsplein in "downtown" Rotterdam. This monstrosity was originally designed for the city centre, but municipal councillors gave it the raspberry, and who can blame them? A campaign by local shopkeepers has prevailed, and now Santa has a new home in time for Christmas. Ah!